"Anders, Anders wake up, wake up Anders," Came the familiar voice of Nana Shimura which penetrated through the fog that was currently clouding Anders' mind.
And he realized that his eyes were closed.
He opened them and he saw Nana's now fully human face looking down at him in concern, sharp light behind her making her outline slightly blurry to him.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I don't know, suddenly you collapsed and then… I have no idea, we suddenly appeared in this place," Nana said in confusion as she removed her face from his field of view.
"Appeared where?" He asked as he sat up and he noticed the two of them were inside of a big metallic looking room.
"No idea, but it looks like some kind of bank vault," Nana said.
"Yeah it kinda... Sora!" Anders shouted as he saw his friend laying a meter or so away from his position, in what he'd heard her call her 'minimum' form.
She was laying on her back in an awkward way, but she didn't respond to his call.
Was that…
Was that blood on her forehead?
"Sora, Sora! You okay?" He asked as he slowly crawled his way over to her as his legs felt like lead and at the same time was being stabbed by a thousand needles so yeah they had definitely fallen asleep.
As soon as he touched her, he felt a jolt, like a static shock, and she suddenly sat up, looking around wildly, breathing heavily, hands on her forehead. "Whats- did I- was that- huh?! What?!" She was definitely panicking for some reason.
"Sora calm down, what happened? Do you know how we got here?" He asked as he only remembered blacking out so he wondered for a brief second if they had been kidnapped, but then Nana would have said that. But from here words they just seemingly teleported to this place.
"I- I- Anders?" She asked, looking at him with wide eyes as she focused on him. "I- I think I died." She said, voice cracking.
"What? No? Why?" He asked as she looked healthy and not undead to him.
Sora tapped the bloody spot on her forehead. "I- I was at the store. And there was a robber. And there was a bullet. And it went right here." She said.
"...Oh god," Nana said for Anders as his voice was failing him at the moment.
"I… I felt it…" Sora said, voice cracking again. "I felt it go in my head. It hurt, it hurt it hurt, but then- but then- what happened after that?" She asked. She wasn't looking at him as she spoke. "What happened…?"
"I… I have no idea, I found what we are, but then I suddenly blacked out and woke up here, in this place," Anders said.
"Where…" Sora asked, looking around again, this time more slowly and seeming to actually try and take it in. "Is this… a vault?"
"A prison more like it," Came a dark and slightly hissing voice. "So...what might you be? You look like Shadowkhan."
They both turned to look at the source of the voice, to see a statue of a green dragon curled around itself.
"Did. Did the statue just talk?" Sora asked slowly.
"Asking the same question here?" Nana said as she, too, stared.
Anders just stayed silent as he looked at the very familiar figure.
"Of course I did," The statue spoke again, eyes glowing red.
"Ah!" Sora yipped, moving her hand as if she were throwing something at the statue as she scrambled backwards-
And something actually came out?
A golden bolt shot from her hand and hit the statue, which seemed unperturbed.
"...Wait, that actually happened?" Sora asked herself, staring at her hands.
"Yes, attack me more, destroy me," Shendu spoke, Anders now fully recognizing the dragon, and the usage of the word Shadowkhan helping.
"As if Shendu," Anders said.
"Shendu?" Sora repeated. "Wait, then that means…" She turned around, before quickly scrambling to her feet and heading for what Anders was pretty sure was the talisman holder.
"Oh, so you know of me? Of course you do," Shendu spoke again.
"You know this guy Anders?" Nana asked.
"Yeah, and if he is here, that means… Oh, I think we jumped universes Nana and you got pulled along for the ride, I think when Sora 'died,'" Anders said. "I, I wonder if that is what happened the first time around…"
His thoughts were derailed by the demented giggles coming from behind him.
And he and Nana turned around to see a slowly growing Sora, cackling madly as she held all twelve talismans. "Ultimate power is mine! Mwahahahaha!" She cackled.
"You can have all that power and more if you put the talismans into the statue." Shendu said. "An army at your disposal. The most powerful of dragons at your beck and call."
"You know the whole deal making doesn't work when the people you are trying to make a deal with, know you are backstabbing bastard," Anders said.
"Quiet, child." Shendu said as Sora took a step towards him.
"Hmm. Lemme see… an army at my disposal…" Sora said as she returned to her normal size. "Right, the Shadowkhan! Where's your mask again? In your temple?"
"How would a mere mortal know of such things?" Shendu asked.
"Spoilers," Anders said as he went over to Sora, Nana following and her cape still in hand.
"Wait… those horns…" Shendu said slowly. "An oni… trying to free your brethren, then?"
"...Yes." Sora said completely convincingly. "You caught me red handed… well, blue handed. Whatever." She said, waving a hand at him.
"Can I have one of those?" Anders asked.
"Sure, which one?"
"Dragon for now," Anders said, Sora happily handing him the Talisman from her pocket. "And speaking of caught, we should leave before Black does that to us."
"You know where we are?" Nana asked.
"Yeah." Sora said as she looked for the door and began to size it up, beginning the slow process of growing. "More or less."
"Government Black Ops facility," Anders told her.
"Wait and you just stole from them?" Nana asked in disbelief.
"Well, for our own survival considering what Sora looks like and how we just appeared it is probably shoot first, maybe ask questions later," Anders told her.
"We are in an American one aren't we?" She asked.
"Yep!" Anders said, popping the 'p.' "Also, good way to test out my power since Sora has unlocked a part of hers." As it was now obvious that Sora had managed to use some kind of Shaman technique by accident.
"I trust you with what you're doing," Nana said as she became the spirit orb again.
"Alright." Sora said as she reached her maximum height, absolutely towering over Anders, her horns having grown twice as long and a lot sharper looking, her body having even more defined muscle.
She cracked her knuckles, before taking a step forward and spinning back, kicking outwards with the other leg and sending the vault door flying off its hinges. "Ox power, baybee!" She declared as she straightened up, before heading over to Anders, picking him up and holding him to her chest with one arm in one smooth, fast motion.
"C'mere A, don't want to lose you." She said, before they were suddenly moving at very high speed, the alarms sounding and screams resounding, until their momentum suddenly stopped long enough for Sora to rear back, before two massive beams of yellow energy shot out of her eyes from over his head, destroying what he was now processing to be a door.
By the time that was done being demolished, they were already moving again, Sora simply shoving the rest away, before they were again moving at very high speed.
In what Anders was certain was less than two minutes total, they were suddenly not only outside, but up in the air looking over a city.
"Well. I guess I'm Superman now." Sora said giddily, sounding like she'd won the lottery and then some.
"Yeah," Anders groaned after having pulled around like a ragdoll. "Hmm, I wonder if this is going to work?"
"If what's gonna work?" Sora asked.
"This," Anders said as he slammed Nana's soul into the cape. "Over Soul: Spirit of Just!" He shouted and the cape was imbued with Nana's soul and power fueled by Ander's spiritual- no it was called Furyoku wasn't it?
The O.S moved over his arm and attached itself to his shoulders. "You can let go of me now Sora."
"Uhhhhh okay!" Sora said, dropping him. Probably confident in her speed to catch him if this didn't work, he reckoned.
And it did, instead of falling Ander's floated right beside Sora. "What a success don't you think so Nana?"
"Wow this is certainly different? It almost feels like I am alive again," Nana's voice echoed from the now black cape as it had turned the same color as Nana's ball color. And that was really it in terms of design changes from what he could see.
"Anders what the fuck." Sora said flatly. "How? I have the Talisman for flight."
"And Nana's quirk is Float remember?" Anders said back.
"But your Quirk is Shadow… shit, whatever, how?!" Sora asked, shrinking back to her standard size in her confusion.
"Because this is not a Quirk, I know why we can see ghosts, because we're Shamans," Anders said giddily. But he could tell they should probably land soon as the first time cost for O.S was pretty big and he could feel his Furyoku being drained as he kept it active.
"...You'll have to explain that more later." Sora said as she put an arm around his chest. "Because I think I hear helicopters."
And now that she mentioned them, Anders did too.
Right before all he could hear was the whooshing of air moving past them. Yet somehow, he didn't really feel the g-force he was pretty sure he should have been experiencing considering he literally couldn't take in the environment whizzing by.
After a moment, they came to a stop, over an iconic cityscape.
"Ah, New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice." Sora said as they arrived.
"Rabbit is fucking busted," Anders said as he stared out at it, taking in the sights like never before.
"Oh fuck yes it is." Sora said dreamily. "You wanna head down so we can figure out where Shendu's palace is?"
"Holy fuck," Nana said her mind having caught up with what had happened. "Yes, reconnaissance and discussing is a good idea."
Xxx
"Ah, the public library." Sora said, hands in her pockets and playing with the Snake Talisman that was making her invisible at the moment. "The home of information."
"Yeah, good idea, let's go and find a corner or a small booth where we can plan," Anders said, Nana back in normal ghost form.
"I'd say...that one." Sora said, pointing towards it.
"Okay," Anders replied. "Which one?"
"...Oh, right." Sora said, facepalming, before taking Anders hand and pointing at the one in question. "That one."
"Ah," Anders said as he began to walk towards the pointed-at booth, Sora keeping her hand on his as they did so.
"So," Sora said once they arrived. "You use the computer to try and find where it is, I go hit the books?"
"It should be easy enough, as I don't think it was ever hidden away or anything just a ruin. Also question: do we try and go for another one so we have both a mask each? As since we are Shamans we can use them without negative consequence," Anders said as he sat down on the chair and pulled up Internet Explorer, showing this was definitely the past. "Probably."
"Actually, about that, what do you mean 'Shaman'?" Sora asked. He'd mentioned that earlier, too, but she had no context as to what he meant. She didn't seem to have elemental powers, though they were communing with the dead, so…
"That is what we are," Anders said. "Shamans, specifically Shaman King style Shamans."
"And what is a Shaman King style Shaman?" Nana asked.
"...Wait, that manga from the early 2000's?" Sora asked, vaguely remembering reading the first few and maybe last few chapters of that in some Shonen Jump she'd bought at a Book Fair in grade school.
"Yep, realized it when I made Nana into that spirit ball," Anders said. "And Nana, that is a person that can do the thing we just did, put your soul into your cape, to create an Over Soul. We have other abilities but I don't know how they are done. The manga focused on the combat aspect mostly."
"Then how did I shoot energy earlier?" Sora asked, looking at her hands-which were still visible to her, thankfully. She'd had to confirm it actually made her invisible with Anders when she used it the first time.
"Probably used a Furyoku technique instinctually, how I am not really sure as spirits are needed… for the most part, Anna I think could do some stuff by herself with Furyoku," Anders said with uncertainty in his voice.
"Huh. Neat." Sora said, not sure how to process that right now. "...So, did you find the thing yet?"
"Yeah, Shendu's castle is a little bit outside of Hong Kong," Anders answered, a tourist article of the place on the screen.
"Alright, and which direction is that from here?" Sora asked, already planning on doing the same thing she did to get here: use the accelerated perception the Rabbit Talisman was giving her whenever she moved to look for the right landmark to stop at, looking at the image of the castle and burning it into her mind.
"Well it would be fastest to just go west," Anders said. "Though as I said there are more masks, which one do you want? As I would really like Shendu's ninja one."
"All of them, but I know that's not feasible, so… Samurai. The blue mask that got on that hench-dude's rear and brought to life. We can be a Samurai/Ninja, Red Oni/Blue Oni thing." Sora said eagerly.
"Yeah, the seal breaks when you do that," Anders said.
"That sounds like a good thing to not do," Nana said. "So where is this Samurai Mask?"
"Bottom of the ocean." Sora said immediately. "We can use the Sheep Talisman and the Ninjas to look for it, once we have your mask."
"Right, though give a second," Anders said as he began to type 'Blue Oni Mask found in the ocean' into google. On the off chance that it had already been found.
"Okay, Imma go read some books real quick." Sora said, speeding off, before immediately speeding back, making sure he could hear the noise of her movement, not having actually done any reading. "Okay I'm done."
Anders just rolled his eyes at that.
"Well, seriously though, I'm gonna go look for books about Oni real quick while you do whatever your doing." Sora said. Shendu had actually called her one, hadn't he? Could that mean...
"You do that," Anders said as it took a bit for the search pages to load.
"O-kay." Sora said in a clear 'Mario'-type voice, before actually going and searching the Library for what she was searching for.
The sheer speed the Rabbit Talisman gave made her feel like she was Quicksilver.
It was literally the best feeling she'd ever felt.
Well, that and the constant total reinvigoration brought on by the Horse (or Dog? She couldn't remember which was which at the moment) Talisman.
She quickly skimmed through a number of books on Japanese folklore, making sure to keep moving to keep the Talisman going-it only seemed to activate while she was moving, which was a little annoying, but it was fine. She was a quick reader anyway.
A few real-time minutes according to the clocks, subjectively what only felt like 10, 20 at most, even with all she was doing, she'd skimmed the entire section on Japanese Mythology for information on Oni and the actual Oni Generals in particular.
Not as useful as it could have been, but she did have a sure-fire way of testing if she was really an Oni or not later as she returned to Anders. "So, you find what you were looking for?" She asked after tapping him on the arm.
"Yeah," Anders said. "I went to see if the samurai mask had already been found, and thankfully luck is on our side."
"Wait, seriously?" Sora asked, leaning over his shoulder and looking at the screen, to see an article about the Mask-with photos that confirmed it was definitely the right one-having been fished from the ocean and put in a museum in Tokyo along with another of similar make and year. She couldn't remember which mask that one was, but two masks for the price of one? "So, we're going to Tokyo, right?"
"Huh I wonder what Japan in this age looks like," Nana wondered.
"Yeah, first stop in Tokyo, you can have both Masks if you want, I am only really interested in the Ninja one," Anders said.
"Hell yeah, I'll be Two-Face!" Sora declared happily. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, though after we get there, I think we should at least hole up somewhere a bit, as I am getting tired," Anders said as he let out a yawn.
"No you aren't." Sora said, pressing the Dog Talisman against his forehead, sending a wave of refreshing energy through him. "Right?"
"Hooo," Ander said as he felt the energy rush into him.
"Yeah, so you ready to go?" Sora asked as she once again pocketed the Talisman.
"I still think we should be tourists for a bit, we didn't really get to do that in Nana's universe," Anders said.
"Speaking of… do you think we can get back there?" Nana asked.
"With whatever's sending us along? Nope!" Sora happily declared, since from what she remembered these types of stories went in a line, not a circle. "In general, probably. There's magic for that."
"Yeah, if we end up in DC or Marvel we can probably get some machine or spell that can track down the universe that Nana resonates with," Anders said in a way to comfort the hero.
"I see, well Toshi can survive without me for a bit," Nana said in acceptance. Sora tried very hard not to laugh at that. "And besides it is actually kind of fun being with you Anders… and you too Sora."
"Oh, don't worry, I know I'm chopped liver." Sora said in good humor. "Now, Anders, stand up so we can go, I don't want to risk, like, breaking your neck by carrying the chair."
"Let's go," Anders said as he stood up and converted Nana's body into orb form for easier carrying.
"A one, a twoo, a three-" Woosh.
Sora looked on at the landscape as it rushed by.
Flying was also up there in being 'the coolest fucking feeling in the world'.
She felt like Superman with all these powers.
It was fucking cool.
But anyway, as she flew, she realized she didn't actually know which direction Japan was specifically, so she had to circle the globe a few times (and wasn't that a sentence?) to find the right landmarks and signs to find Japan.
As such, she had no idea how much time later relative to the real time, later, Sora and Anders touched down somewhere in Tokyo. She wasn't actually sure where they were specifically as she set Anders down.
"Urgh, ahh," Anders said as he tried to balance himself, and also not to throw up.
"Oh, sorry, here you go." Sora said, taking the Horse and Dog talismans, one in each hand, and pressing them against the sides of his head for a moment and activating them.
"Much better," Anders said.
"Alright!" Sora said, finally deactivating the Snake Talisman. "People are more likely to think I'm a cosplayer around here, right?"
"Yeah," Anders said. "So now we just need to go and find Shinjuku Museum."
"Yeah! To the museum!" Sora concurred.
Xxx
And so after about four hours of faffing about in Shinjuku and Akihabara (as that was where they had landed) to see the sights and finally eat some food from a Soba stall with money they had stolen from an ATM Machine. Much to Nana's disapproval but she relented then she realized they were lacking money, and besides it was just bank money and not someone's personal money.
They were now in front of Shinjuku Museum, the place closed for the day which was good for them as that meant no witnesses.
"So how do you wanna go about it?" Anders asked his friend as they stared at the front entrance.
There were people walking behind them, but they were utterly ignoring them as they had better things to do than looking at a tall dude and short girl with a hoodie.
"Well, the easiest thing would be to just… bust the lock, walk in?" Sora suggested. "Can't really do 'stealth entrances' with these powers, I don't think. Unless you can see a window or something."
"No one accidentally left one open from what I can see, so even if we broke something the alarm would go off," Anders said.
"Hmm… any holes? Cracks? Anything a mouse could slip through?" Sora asked, looking it up and down.
"You can probably go through the sewers," Anders suggested.
"Eww, no, gross…" Sora said, looking up towards the top of the building. "Wait, the air conditioning. We can use the vents! I can turn us into rats or something so we can fit, and then we just go in, easy peasy lemon squeezy."
"Yeah, that can work," Anders said. "Nana can you go be our scout?"
"Sure thing," Nana said fully onboard with this criminal act as they had fully explained to her the danger of the masks and what they could do if they were all brought together. They were an effective doomsday weapon. "I'll keep an eye out for guards."
"Thanks Shimura-san." Sora said as she grabbed Anders' arm. Anders was pretty sure she kept calling her that because she was a filthy fucking weeb, but had yet to comment. "C'mon, let's head to a back alley or something real quick."
"Good idea," Anders said, keeping his agreements short as usual.
A moment later, they were on the roof, Sora immediately beelining for what he assumed to be the air conditioning unit as she stared into it. "Okay, yes, perfect, they have one of these chonky bois. And it's…" She pressed her ear against it. "Yeah, whole systems off right now. Perfect."
"How did you know that it would be?" Anders asked not knowing how these kinds of systems worked.
"My dad works in HVAC, so I know some stuff." Sora said. "Like what they sound like when they're on. And more importantly, that this is the end the air comes out of, and it isn't blowing anything at the moment, so it's off."
"Ah, okay," Anders said, impressed that Sora remembered something like this.
"Alright, you ready to become a rat?" Sora asked. "Or did you have a different critter in mind?"
"I can deal with being a rat, probably the best animal for doing this, because can't they crawl walls almost as good as spiders?" Anders asked.
"Can they?!" Sora asked, clearly not having known that, a cute surprised look on her face.
"I think I heard that mentioned once," Anders replied, uncertainty in his voice.
"Well… cool!" Sora said, holding the Monkey Talisman out between her hands in a heart shape. "Rat time!" She said, a blue beam shooting out of the rock and hitting him, before suddenly his perspective shifted.
And he was a rat.
Sora picked him up gently while he was disoriented. "Aww, you're so cute!" She squee'd.
"Eat my ass Sora," He replied, but to Sora's ears she only heard small squeaks at the moment.
"Don't worry, I won't keep you too long." Sora said, putting him into the vent, before in a flash of blue a rat (which was still blue, for some reason?) flew into the vent next to him. "Hey, can you understand me right now?" She asked, voice squeakier than ever, but understandable.
"Yeah, I can," Anders replied.
"And I can too actually," Nana replied. "Weird, do you think this is a ghost thing or a Shaman thing?"
"A bit of column A and a little bit of column B I think," Anders told her.
"This is cool, but let's save it for later." Sora said, her newly-acquired hyperactivity still going apparently. "C'mon! Let's go get those masks! I want minions!" She said, laughing (squeaking) maniacally as she ran through the vent.
Anders just rolled his current rat eyes in response as he followed Sora with Nana meeting them down below.
Thankfully, only a few minutes later, they were out of the vents, Sora having turned them back into people again as she quickly found the Masks, which were literally just hanging on the wall in an exhibit alongside several others, but even to Anders the Purple and Blue ones they were looking for were obvious. "Wow, they have no security here, huh?" Sora said as she brought the Masks to her telekinetically -something she hadn't done yet- and looked at them excitedly. "Do you want to try on purple boi?" She asked, holding it out to him.
"Nah, wanna save my first for the ninja," Anders said.
"Alright, then put this in your shadow." Sora said, handing it to him anyway, before reverently holding the blue mask in both hands, growing back to her normal height as she stared at it, bringing it to her face. "Imma get me some minions."
"If you insist," Anders said as his shadow miasma appeared around his body and he dropped the mask so that it would land in his shadow.
But before it did the mask was grabbed out of the air by a little orange blur.
"Sorry tall guy, it's mine now," Jade Chan said with a smug face as she held the mask in her hands.
"Jade that was not a part of the plan," Said the unmistakable voice of Jackie Chan, who was right there along with the rest of the J-Team, including Black and a few more men in suits.
"...Oh my god that's Jackie Chan." Sora said in awe, her face already having merged with the mask, making her mouth bigger (and red inside) and her eyes green but otherwise still looking like 'her', if one ignored the new bumps and crenulations.
"How the fuck did you know we would be here?" Anders asked in genuine surprise as he stared at Jackie who slightly blushing at the recognition.
"Don't curse in front of Jackie Chan, dude!" Sora scolded worriedly.
"You weren't exactly subtle, gallivanting around Shinjuku." Captain Black said. "And also the cameras in New York and your search history."
"Wait, hold up, how'd you know we were in New York at all?" Sora asked incredulously. "He's super generic, and I was invisible!"
"You flew in a straight line and broke the sound barrier." Black stated flatly. "Twice."
"...Oops." Sora said.
"Well found one down side of Rabbit, easy to track with tech," Anders said, his eyes not meeting theirs but Nana's and she gave him a nod.
"So, I am going to give you one chance to surrender and return the stolen Talismans before I have my men open fire, or have Jackie beat you even more blue," Black said.
"Black don't phrase it like that, but what is that mask? And what did you talk to Shendu about?" Jackie asked while Jade looked like she was begging for a fight to happen while Tohru and Uncle looked like they were about to cast some spells.
"Well, gentlemen and Chosen One, the answer is pretty simple." Sora said, hands in her pockets as she grinned. "Minions, servants, soldiers of the cold and dark, Obey the Call, of Sora-doji!" She intoned, voice dropping a few octaves and seeming to resonate as she spoke, and the Shadows around the room suddenly began sprouting tall, fully armored Samurai, who quickly surrounded the J-Team. "Sorry, I don't have anything against you guys, but I like being Superman, so I'll be keeping these."
"Are these Shadowkhan? But they look different?" Jade asked as she eyed the two samurai who were near her.
"Doji? So you are an Oni?" Tohru asked in slight fear but also determination.
"Guilty as charged." Sora said with a grin, lying as naturally as breathing. "Don't worry, I'm not one for world domination or anything like that. Just needed some muscle for what I'm planning." She took a step forward, all the guns pointed at her. "So I'd appreciate it if you gave that mask back, pretty please."
"Yeah, as if?" Jade said. "Uncle hit it!"
"Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao, Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao," Uncle began to chant, the old chi wizard preparing to probably banish the Shadownkhan. "Yu Mo-"
"Sorry," Sora apologized unapologetically as a blue beam shot out of her and turned Uncle into a monkey mid chant. "Not happening. But at least you can say you've got a Monkey Uncle now." She joked.
"Uncle!" Jackie said in surprise.
"Men open fire on them," Black ordered his men while Jade took the opportunity to try and tackle Sora to the ground.
Sora quickly grabbed her and spun around, preventing any of the bullets being fired at her from hitting the kid. "You stupid little- you almost got shot!" She scolded, before more bullets hit her back. "Stop shooting me assholes, you almost shot the kid!" She yelled at them, the Samurai Khan taking the time to slice most of the guns in twain with shadowy blades. "God, what is wrong with you people?!"
"Yeah, that was pretty fucking stupid," Anders said as he held up Spirit of Just, having manifested the Over Soul the second Black had told them to open fire.
"Yeah, but it allowed me to do this," Jade said as she held up a fist full of Talisman.
"Wh-give those back!" Sora said, reaching out to take them back, and Jade responded by vanishing in a blur indicating that she had gotten away with the Rabbit Talisman.
"Jade, what were you thinking?" The outraged voice of both Jackie and Black said at the same time.
"I wanted to get some of her Talismans, I saw in the footage she put them in her hoodie and it turned out they were still there," Jade said as she now stood by Jackie's side looking even smugger than before as she held four Talismans and the purple Shadowkhan mask.
"That was still extremely dangerous," They all said.
"Hey, is that any way to treat someone who would take bullets for you?!" Sora said indignantly. "I mean, I literally don't want any of you to get hurt or anything, but… yeah, I don't want anyone in this room getting hurt, so maybe can just agree to let us walk away and go about our separate ways?"
"You stole government property, so no," Black said as he leveled his gun.
"Okay, we didn't mean to end up in that vault, and with what I look like your super secret Men in Black organization would skin me alive for science and you know it." Sora said defensively. "I had no choice."
"Black wouldn't do that," Jackie said while Black looked a little sheepish. "Black!"
"See!" Sora said triumphantly. "Perfectly reasonable of me then. Here, a bit of good will- bring it back boys." She said, and with that the Samurai Khan all came back and surrounded her, all but two disappearing into her shadow. "There, now I'm not even threatening you guys. Can we please leave now?"
"If you give the rest of the Talismans back?" Jackie asked while Jade turned Uncle back to normal, the old man muttering something Anders couldn't make out.
Yeah as if that is happening. Anders thought for he was definitely keeping Dragon, Anders turned his head to look at Sora for her response as he was just thinking of a way to escape which was now just to grab Sora with Soul of Just and have them fly out after blasting a hole in the roof.
Except, when he looked at Sora, he saw she...actually looked conflicted? What?
"Really?" He asked.
"It's Jackie Chan!" Sora said back, voice cracking.
"Wow Demon Girl has some serious respect for you Uncle Jackie," Jade said in genuine surprise.
"It's Sora." She corrected. "And yeah, of course I do, he's Jackie Chan!"
"Wow," Jackie responded very much looking surprised by the hero worship. "I didn't think I was that well known?"
"You've beat Shendu how many times now?" Sora asked rhetorically. "I'd be surprised if there's anyone in the mystic community who doesn't know about you!"
"Really?" He asked.
"Okay, we've gotten off topic here," Black said, gun still leveled, but not firing as he knew it wouldn't hurt her. And even if he did fire again Anders would just immediately have Nana block it.
"Can you stop with the guns!" Sora insisted. "Seriously, no violence is necessary here!"
"He is American, Sora, no arguing with him," Anders said.
"Ugh, you're right." Sora agreed.
"Hey!" Black responded sounding very offended.
"Urgh, let's just leave Sora," Anders said.
"But, he asked nicely?" Sora said, still seeming conflicted on whether to give talismans back or not.
"Give them back later," Anders said as he took out the Dragon Talisman and immediately fired at the roof, a massive gout of flame bursting forth.
"Oh okay we're leaving byeeeee!" Sora said, using the Rooster Talisman to grab on to Anders and the cape as they flew through the now open ceiling at much slower speeds than before, but still reasonably (or unreasonably, depending on how you looked at it) fast. "Alright, hang on tight." Sora said (ironically since there was nothing to hang on too) as they flew off.
"Get back here-" Captain Black's cries faded into the distance as they flew fast enough Anders needed to cover his eyes from the wind, but nowhere near as fast as they had before.
"Alright, dude, how the heck are we getting to Hong Kong? She took the Rabbit, Monkey, Rat, and -aw, dammit she took Snake, too!" Sora cursed, doing a Talisman count as they flew.
"Have you fly us there? Might take longer but we are much closer than before," Anders said as he disengaged the O.S before it drained his Furyoku reserves completely dry. As he was kept in Sora's telekinetic aura now.
Sora sighed. "I figured. Put out your hand for me?"
And Anders held it out.
"Alright, hold this for me." She said, before putting her own hand in his.
"Uh?" Anders said in confusion, before he felt the presence of a Talisman between their palms.
"Best way to let us both get the Dog's effects." Sora explained. "Cause I don't think we're gonna be able to stop now."
"Yeah if we do, Black is probably going to catch up," Anders said with a sigh, for that had been an utter shitshow. Though they probably knew where they were going next, as he had searched for Shendu's place as well.
Sora sighed again. "Stupid government stooge. Couldn't he have just let us go? I probably would have given them the Talismans back after we got your mask."
"As if, definitely keeping two myself," Anders said.
"Oh yeah for sure, but like, most of them." Sora said. "He did ask nicely."
"He did, and it is Jackie Chan," Anders said in agreement.
"It is Jackie Chan." Sora repeated.
"Why are you calling a grown man 'chan'?" Nana asked as she floated besides them.
"That's his name." Sora corrected. "Family name Chan, given name Jackie. He's really famous back home."
"So the version you know is a celebrity?" Nana asked.
"Yeah, he's even the actor for that one." Sora said. "Well, voice actor. This was a cartoon. But, like, he looked exactly like Jackie Chan, right?!"
"On point, like I think Rush Hour 1 Jackie Chan," Anders said back.
"Yes, exactly." Sora agreed.
"So your respect for him even extends to other versions of him?" Nana asked.
"Yes absolutely." Sora said. "Also, he saves the world pretty consistently in this one."
"Ah, so he is a true hero?" Nana asked.
"That is correct, which is why Sora and I don't really want to fight them as they are good people," Anders said.
"So if that Black guy wasn't present you would have just surrendered to them?" Nana asked, before hearing her own words. "...Let me rephrase that. So if the government dude wasn't present you would have just properly explained yourself and worked with them?"
"Yeah basically." Sora confirmed.
"Yeah," Anders said in agreement. "Black tries his best, but he is very trigger happy and overzealous in his work and very patriotic I believe."
"There's a reason 'American Patriotism' is listed as a Religion, because it sure has some zealots." Sora said in disgust.
"Anyway how is the mask Sora, you hearing the dude's voice?" Anders asked.
"Mmm, nope!" Sora denied. "But I can feel the ability to summon Samurai Khan, which is honestly the coolest thing."
"Though can you take it off?" He asked.
"Why would I take it off?" Sora asked in genuine confusion.
"To experiment with it to see if you can like communicate with Oni and do Shaman shenanigans, and I like your normal face better," Anders said.
"O-oh, okay." Sora said, before bringing her free hand to her face and, sure enough, the Mask came off easily. "Well would you look at that. Is that cause we're Shamans? Didn't it take, like, a spell to take them off normally?"
"I think so, as Shamans we can't unwillingly be possessed, and I think wearing it counts as that, so if we want to we can just end it as it were," Anders theorized.
"Neat." Sora said, before putting the mask back on. "I would say we could put it in your Shadow, but…" She motioned towards the very long drop to the ground below them.
"Yeah for now keep it on," Anders said.
A moment of silence passed between them as they simply flew through the air, looking at the cityscape below in wonder.
It was a sight he hadn't seen yet with how fast they'd been moving before.
It was beautiful.
"Hey, so, do you know how long it actually is till we get there?" Sora asked after a moment of long silence.
"I don't know," Anders answered.
"It should take you about forty hours," Nana answered, apparently having experience with this.
"...A." Sora said after a moment.
"Well good thing we have Dog," Anders said.
"Yeah." Sora agreed.
…
"99,999 bottles of beer on the wall, 99,999 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 99,998 bottles of beer on the wall." Sora sang.
This is going to be a long, long two days. Anders thought as they continued to fly over the ocean.
Xxx
"1 last bottle of beer on the wall, one last bottle beer, take it down, smash the town, holy fuck how are we not there yet?!" Sora screamed as they soared over the ocean, the sun having set and risen and set and risen again, and they still weren't there!
"I have no idea," Anders said back his voice sounding hollow to her ears.
"Agggggghhhh!!!" Sora screamed at the ocean.
Even she was sick of this.
No amount of trollish tendencies made singing that song for two days straight and still not being there worth it.
Sora was glaring very hard at the ocean as she did, blasting it with the yellow eye beams she'd gotten from the Pig Talisman. "Stupid kid! Stealing our speed! I circled the fucking globe!! And now we can't even travel afuckingalijfnefkjdlifjilejijijAAAAAA!!!"
Anders and Nana just stayed silent and let Sora rant, as it was perfectly understandable as even Nana the goddamn ghost was starting to feel even deader inside from all of this.
Sora breathed heavily as she stopped blasting the ocean, a line of boiling blasted water left in their wake. "...We're never doing this again. Fast travel only."
"I am going to find a way to teleport through shadows one way another," Anders promised himself.
"Good. I'm going to steal the first thing I see that lets me teleport or move at super speed." Sora concurred.
"I would not tell you to steal, but this sucks, this sucks so hard," Nana said as she could only move at the same speed as the person she was currently attached to.
"Yeah, it sucks!" Said a tiny voice from below them.
"You said it." Sora agreed.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Who said it?" Anders finally said after everyone tried to figure out where that voice had come from but coming up empty.
"Uh, me, obviously." Said the tiny voice again. It literally sounded small, Sora had never heard anything that sounded small like that before.
"And where are you?" Sora asked, looking at the water as she slowed to a stop, with what she was pretty sure was the barest glimpse of land in the distance.
"Down here!" Came the tiny voice from below her hearing, as she looked down at the water.
"Are you a mermaid?" Sora asked as she narrowed her eyes at the water.
"What's a 'mermaid'?" The voice asked, again from below her, so Sora rotated them in the air as she looked down.
"Where are you?" Sora repeated, vexed.
"I told you, I'm down here!" The voice repeated.
"It's coming from you Sora," Anders and Nana said at the same time.
"Wh?" Sora said, looking down, this time at herself. "Is there something on me?"
"Yeah, on your chest, duh." Said the voice, and as she looked down the only thing she could see was, well, her chest.
"Oh my god Sora your boobs are haunted," Anders said, making Nana croak with laughter.
"No, not my tits!" Sora cried as she stared at them.
"I'm not the boobs!" Said the voice, a bit angrily? "I'm between them!"
"...Wait, there should only be one thing…" Sora said as she pulled at her collar, looking down her hoodie- and there was, in fact, only one thing there, as she pulled at the chain around her neck and pulled the silver cross out, which as she stared at it was slightly glowing. "No way."
"Yes way!" The voice said, now louder, the slight radiant glow around the cross intensifying as it spoke.
"Be ye angel?" Sora asked in trepidation.
"I think so." Her cross said.
"Item Spirit!" Anders said in realization as he pointed at the cross.
"What?" Sora asked.
"What?" Her cross asked (why was her cross talking!? She'd literally been wearing it for years! Sora was pretty sure she would know if it was sentient by now!).
"It's an Item Spirit," Anders said again.
"And what is that?" Nana asked, having never seen this before.
"It's an item that has gained a spirit. Item Spirit," Anders said helpfully.
"And how do they do that, exactly?" Sora asked.
"Well they just develop from things Shamans are very, very attached to, extremely fucking rare and be very fucking strong from what I remember and they are usually classified as angels," Anders explained.
"Aha! I was right!" Her cross said.
"...Yeah, I guess that actually makes sense." Sora said, thinking on how much this necklace actually meant to her. Especially now that it was the only piece of home she still had. "Uh, you got a name, dude?"
"Nope!" Her cross said happily. Seemed pretty chipper in general.
"Okay, then you're… Azazel. No, wait, Azrael." Sora said, quickly correcting herself. She always got those two mixed up, but they meant very different things.
"Ok!" Azrael said.
"Wait, does that mean that those energy blast things were you?" Sora asked, putting two and two together in regards to the cross shaped blasts.
"Yup!" Azrael confirmed. "You needed me, so we Over Soul'd for the first time. I think that's what it's called, that's what Lord Anders called it. You also technically haven't stopped."
"Oh that was that energy blast, it was a function of your Over Soul probably a form of Weapon-Type," Anders said.
"You know you could have gone into more detail regarding Shaman stuff while we flew right?" Nana asked.
"...I didn't think of that," Anders said sheepishly.
"I was literally singing 40 hours trying to annoy you into having an actual conversation." Sora said in flat disbelief.
"Sorry," Anders apologized. "I kinda zoned out after the first five minutes."
"Honestly, that's kind of impressive." Sora said. "And annoying. I was doing that to make you say literally anything because my mind was blanking super hard."
"Well if you wanted to talk you could just have asked?" Anders responded.
"Well it's even more clear now that you're both idiots," Nana said in resignation.
"Hey!" They both said.
"Hehehe." Azrael giggled. "You guys are funny."
"Well at the very least I can see stuff in the distance now," Anders said. "So we probably have like a few more hours of flight. So in the meantime, Shaman questions? I try to answer as best as possible, it's been like a decade since I read it."
"Wait a decade and you remember stuff that well?" Nana asked.
"Nerd Privilege, I like the stuff I get into. I remember super well, and I did go through the wiki a few times," Anders responded.
"Okay, so, why are Item Spirits strong?" Sora asked. "And, did you say that they're angels?"
"Because they take serious dedication to develop, like you truly have to have care and respect for a thing like it was a person, and they have a connection to the ones they get named after so Shamans summon them up and fuse them with the Item Spirit," Anders explained.
Sora looked at her necklace- Azrael now, she supposed. "...Yeah, that tracks… but maybe I shouldn't have named her after the Angel of Death…"
"Can't take it back now," Anders said.
"Yup!" Azrael said. "My name is Azrael now!"
"Shoot." Sora said.
"Okay!" Azrael said, before a golden cross formed in front of them, maybe a foot tall and half that across, before firing off into the ocean.
"..." All three of their faces were unreadable as the golden energy cross slammed into the ocean creating a small geyser.
"...What?" Azrael asked, somehow conveying the feeling of a dog with its head tilted in confusion despite not having a face. "I did good, right?"
"Yes, you did." Sora said flatly. "But, in the future, maybe don't fire unless there's an enemy in front of us, okay?"
"Okay!" Azrael said easily.
"Well, I'm still a fountain of knowledge," Anders said. "Want some of the basics?"
"Yes, please." Sora said, eager to learn. "Gimme that Shamology 101."
They began to fly again as Anders started to explain. "Well, everything Shamans do is rooted in Furyoku, Mana, Spiritual Energy whatever you wanna call it. And as said before they do stuff with Spirits, like healing, divination and other wizard stuff. But the primary thing they do is help ghosts move on."
"Oh, so we're exorcists." Sora said. "But like, in a nice way."
"Yeah basically," Anders replied. "Now in terms of battle abilities which we are going to focus on, there is only one power. And that is the Over Soul."
"Yeah, that is definitely a weird experience, it felt like our souls were synced for a bit and I could do stuff I never thought I could," Nana said.
"Huh. So what can you do, little dude?" Sora asked Azrael.
"I dunno." Azrael answered. "Just whatever you tell me to, I guess."
"Well the powers of an Over Soul depends on the Spirit in question and the medium used for manifesting it," Anders said. "He is just a newborn, so for now he can probably only do the Holy Cross thing, but later on as it, and you grow. It's breadth of power could expand drastically."
"Neat." Sora said. "And that's how you were flying earlier, right?"
"Yeah, I was basically extending my Quirk Float to you," Nana stated. "Though it felt like I could do more with my cape than just shielding," Nana said as she pointed at the cloth that was currently wrapped around Anders' arm.
"Exactly, there exist three classes of Over Soul from what I remember, Spirit-type or Stand-type, Weapon-type, and Armor-type. O.S Spirit of Just, would be classified as an Armor-Type," Anders explained as they now flew alongside the coast to find Hong Kong and by proxy Shendu's place.
" 'Spirit of Just'?" Sora asked, grinning.
"Nana is a Spirit of Justice," Anders replied.
The named ghost just sheepishly scratched her chin in response to the statement.
"Aight, aight." Sora said. "I mean, I'm not one to judge, because as soon as I figure it out, I will be figuring out an attack I'll call 'Exorcism'."
"Exorcism!" Azrael repeated excitedly.
"You do you," Anders replied.
"...Hmm." Sora hummed as she had a thought.
"What?"
"You said Over Souls can do stuff that's basically magic, right?"
"Yep, just need the right Spirit," Anders replied.
"Okay." Sora said, before holding her free hand out, Azrael floating over it and rotating. "Divine Divination. Locate Shendu's Palace."
"Locating!" Azrael repeated, spinning rapidly like a 3D compass, before it's tip pointed a few degrees to the right of where they'd already been flying. "Shendu's Palace is: that direction!"
"Good girl." Sora praised as she corrected their flight path.
"Huh, well guess it can do that since it is young and malleable," Anders said as he wasn't knowledgeable about the precise mechanics that governed spirits and how they aided Shamans. As the manga had never gone into detail how their job actually worked besides the first few chapters before the rest of the series became a power leveling tournament arc. And that was one point he needed to mention. "Right forgot to say this. The amount of Furyoku a Shaman has is set at birth; it can not be increased through training the usage only refined."
"Oh, shit." Sora cursed. "That sucks. Is there really no way of increasing it?"
"There is and that is dying or surviving near-death experiences or just living in total agony," As he remembered that was what one girl did.
"...Oh." Sora said. "So, does that mean the reason I've been able to keep this going for so long is because of…" Her free hand lightly touched her forehead, which she'd checked on the way to the museum, did have a scar, but she only felt the bumpier texture her face had taken on while wearing the mask.
"That and Dog probably, and that is probably why using Soul of Just didn't drain me as hard as it probably should have," Anders said. "I think when you got 'killed' it chained me and I died as well."
Sora flinched. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Anders replied.
"Though if that is true it probably works in reverse as well, if Anders gets killed you probably get the chain reaction Sora," Nana said.
"Oh, yeah, probably." Sora agreed as she continued following the direction Azrael was pointing. "Is there anything else about Shamans you think I should know, Anders?"
"That's really it," Anders replied as he mulled over stuff. "Like I've mentioned all the necessary stuff, so the only question is why and how."
"Yeah, the how seems really important." Sora said. For some reason, in the back of her mind, that felt like it was tickling her pun-o-meter, but that didn't make any sense. She didn't make a pun, it was just a statement. "Imma guess… planeshifting alien bacteria colony that landed in us, formed a symbiotic relationship, and teleports when we die to a new dimension, saving our lives."
"If it weren't for the fact we're Shamans I consider that plausible," Anders said.
"Yeah, not that out there," Nana agreed.
"Thank you. That was the reason for my very first (published) fanfiction." Sora said with a grin- a lot wider than normal, thanks to the mask. Which felt weird, but not necessarily bad. Definitely not ideal though. "Kinda similar to what we're going through right now."
"I think mine was a MLP Self-Insert I think," Anders commented.
Sora pulled her hand back in faux-shock and hissed. "No, bad Anders!"
And then realized she'd also let go of him with Rooster's powers, as Anders kept his momentum and quickly fell down and out of her reach. "Shit!" She said as she dove down towards him.
"O.S.: Soul of Just," He said as he came to a stop and the now black cape fluttered behind him.
"Oh, right, you can fly too." Sora said, a wave of relief- and sudden tiredness, for some reason?- washing over her. "Why do I feel really tired all of a sudden?" She asked slowly.
"We've been awake for like three days and you let go of Dog," Anders replied.
"Oh, right, that was between our hands." Sora said, realizing she'd let go of both. "Gimme your hand." She said, holding out her own imperiously.
Anders just gave her a small smile as he did so.
Immediately, a wave of energy refilled her. "Wooh, okay, that's better. Alright. We continue towards the palace, so we can get Ninjas, and start building our army."
"Wait, army?" Nana asked.
Xxx
"Fucking finally!" Anders shouted as they were now flying over the ruins of Shundu's Castle and from what he could see J-Team and Section 13 were not present.
"Oh my god, I can finally stop flying!" Sora said happily. "I never thought I'd ever get tired of flying, but here we are." She said as they touched down at the rough center of the palace.
"The ability to fly long distances should come with a required secondary power of a flight speed of Mach 1 at minimum," Anders said.
"Yeah, not too bad in cities, but man did One for All increase my flight speed by a lot," Nana said.
"Is it cool if I steal that if/when we get back there?" Sora asked as Samurai Khan began pouring out of every shadow around them en masse. "So I can fly faster?"
The death glare Nana gave at that was truly something to behold, but Anders saw that Sora saw none of that as she was looking around. He could tell that the lack of sleep was really getting to them now.
"Anyway, Anders do you remember where the Mask was?" Sora asked as she began conducting her Khan to spread out. "I don't... remember." Her words were starting to slur together. She seemed a lot more tired all of a sudden for some reason.
"Somewhere down below in a coffin," Anders said as he pointed his finger downwards.
"Down we go!" Sora said, raising a leg up, and up, until it was above her head, before suddenly slamming it down and shattering the floor beneath her.
And him.
And a large radius around them, as they all fell down with the dust and rubble.
"Igotcha." Sora said as he suddenly stopped falling, looking around to see the Samurai Khan also floating in the air as Sora lowered them all gently to the ground. "Wheee." She said, doing a small circle in the air. "Those are some pretty l…" Until she suddenly fell out of the air and collapsed, landing on face down in the rubble.
"...Oh shit the dog," Anders said as he went down and put the Dog Talisman in Sora's hand as she needed the energy more than Anders did. Though as soon as he did, Anders felt the sleep deprivation kick in and he almost collapsed in exhaustion.
"Oh, okay, we're doing things again!" Sora said as she suddenly shot to her feet, looking around wildly. "...We're idiots, just hold my hand." She said upon seeing him looking like how she'd felt. "I mean, it's not like we've been doing exactly that for like 40+ hours."
"Okay, feeling the energy, let's go and get the mask before Black, the others or god forbid Tarakuda shows up," Anders said as they began to walk.
"Barakuda." Sora corrected.
"Tarakudo, Barracuda was a programming block back home," Anders said.
"Nonono, like, oooh, Barracuda." Sora sang. "The song, the song!"
"After this is over you two should sleep for like three days, for I think that Dog Talisman can't keep up this level of lack of sleep," Nana said from behind them.
"I can't agree any more, this is the worst," Anders said while Sora had Azrael guide them to the mask.
"Wharryoutalkinabout?" Sora slurred. "I've never felt better!" She declared as she walked face first into a pillar.
And through it, thanks to Ox, but still.
"You're going to be the second death of me," Nana said as she followed them, Anders just rolled his tired eyes in amusement.
They continued walking, until Azrael was pointing straight down.
"Wait, did we find it?" Sora asked.
"No, it is directly below us." Azrael answered.
"Oh, okay." Sora said, once again raising her leg, this time for a stomp instead of an axe kick, before once again demolishing the floor.
And they landed on top of a coffin and on their right was Black with J-Team, and on their left was the floating mask Tarakudo, Daolon Wong for some reason and what Anders presumed to be the Enforcers in their Dark Warrior forms, with Hak Foo being the only one still human.
"...Dad?" Sora asked, looking directly at Tarakudo.
"No you are not one of mine, who are you fledgling Oni? I knew I sensed Ikazuki was active," Tarakudo asked, his orange head floating menacingly.
"I'm Sora-doji." Sora proudly announced as her Samurai began to circle around the coffin they were standing on. "Aaand, sorry, we're gonna have to take this. I don't vibe with Evil Chi Vampire Sorcerer people." She pointed at Tarakudo. "You're cool tho."
"That is fair," Daolon said, which surprised everyone present. "What? I know what I do."
"Guess my assumption you would show up was correct," Black said.
"You can shut your up, dude." Sora said dismissively. "Why won't you just leave us alone?"
"You stole government property and evaded arrest," Black responded.
"Fine, have em back!" Sora said, chucking a handful of Talismans at the J-Team, which they all scrambled to catch.
"God fucking dammit Sora," Anders said.
"Language!" Said Jackie, Tohru, Uncle, and Sora (surprisingly) at the same time.
"So are you two like a couple?" Jade asked.
"What? No!" Sora denied. "Wh-why would you?"
"You're holding hands," The Dark Warrior with red hair said, which was probably Finn.
"Yeah it's kinda sweet," The one with glasses said, which was probably Chow.
"Honestly I am up for it if you are, but that discussion is best served for later, for I want this over with I have not slept in over forty hours, Rooster without Rabbit sucks for long distance," Anders said in a tone that was out of fucks.
"Wh-I-you-I-" Sora stuttered as she let go of his hand, taking the talisman with her. "No, I, uh, um-"
"Enough talking time to fight," Hak Foo said as he leaped at them. "Crow flies towards two brats!"
Sora interposed herself, seeming ready to take the kick head on.
Only to get sent flying, not only losing her footing but tumbling end over end through the air before slumping against the wall. "...Uh-oh. I threw the Ox!" She said in despair. "Get 'em, boys!"
At that chaos broke out.
"The mask is fucking mine, Nana!" Anders shouted and the spirit reacted instantly.
"Wait who is Nana?" Hak Foo asked as he prepared to strike like he had done Sora.
"Over Soul: Spirit of Just!" Anders shouted as the black cape shield appeared in front of him.
"Cloth shall not stop me, Bull rushes through flimsy defense!" And hit the shield.
And everybody winced at the sound of all the bones in Hak Foo's hand shattering. "AHHHH!" The mercenary for hire screamed silently in pain as he held his broken hands up.
"Should have taken the Dark Warrior boost like the others, for don't you know magic must defeat magic. Fist of Justice!" Anders shouted as the shield formed around his hand into a much bigger hand and punched Hak Foo up the whole they had made on entrance.
"Could not have said it better myself," Uncle commented as he battled with Daolon.
"Will you stop! Freaking! Shooting me!!!" Sora yelled at Black, who finished unloading his handgun at her.
"When you stop being a criminal." Black said as he holstered the gun.
"Finally!"
Only to pull out another gun.
"AAAAAAA" Sora screamed, firing two beams of yellow energy firing out of her eyes. "JUST STOP! PLEASE!"
"Augustus!" Jackie yelled as he fought against Finn, while Jade was handling Chow (by the looks of it, with the Ox Talisman at least) while Tohru was dealing with Ratso.
"Okay taking the mask and leaving," Anders said as he punched through the coffin and pulled out the mask that controlled Ninja Khan.
"You will not have that!" Tarakudo shouted as he rushed at Anders carrying several rusted weapons he had taken from the surrounding statues with telekinesis.
"I will!" Anders said as he floated backwards and avoided being skewered by them landing on the ground. Though as he did Anders could see black spots in vision.
"Anders!" Sora called out in panic.
"The lack of sleep is getting to you young one," Tarakudo said. "Normally I would rather fight an opponent as interesting as you while you're fully energized, but I am on a schedule for world domination and 976 years of darkness."
"Why 976?" Sora asked, seeming genuinely curious, as she got next to Anders, flanked by two Samurai that blocked Black's gun fire, cutting the bullets out of the air.
"For if I go for the 1000, my plan will surely not work," Tarakudo responded.
"Smart," Anders said. "But watch this," Anders said as his miasma manifested and he shoved the mask into his Shadow, and pulled his hand back out.
"Urgh, what, how? What shadow sorcery is that?" Tarakudo asked. "And how do I not know it?"
"Just a Quirk of mine," Anders replied cheekily.
"Anders, I want you to know I'm proud of that one, but can we leave now?" Sora asked, grabbing his arm- she must have really panicked, she was down to her minimum again.
"You will not!" Tarakudo shouted as Anders began to float up the hole, but he was being held back by the Oni's telekinetic powers.
"Yeah, not leaving," the voice of Black said.
"I SWEAR TO SHUTEN IF YOU SHOOT ME AGAIN I'M GOING TO DEBONE YOU WITH THAT GU- oh fu-" Sora's tirade was cut off as a distinct noise of a rocket filled the air.
"ARGH!" Anders screamed as he felt more pain in a brief second than he had in his entire life as flames filled his vision before it went dark.
And he was also sure he heard screaming through the sound of the explosion.
Xxx
"Well, that was even quicker than before, though they got more stuff done."
…
"Maybe they should start a little further from the action this time…"
Xxx
